All Hallow's Eve
by Forsaken and Darklost
Summary: OneShot: Taking place after the events in Japan. The Titans throw a Halloween party and screams aren't the only things filling the air...Romance, pairings RobinxRaven. Please read and review...thanks! MY First T rated fanfic!


Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Teen Titans is the rightful property of DC Comics and Cartoon Network. My claim is upon the plot and only that.

A/N: Happy Halloween everyone!! This is another One-shot of mine that's been on my mind as of late. As some of you know Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year, and as Teen Titans is also one of my favorites too; I thought I'd blend the two and after seeing 'Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo', I thought I'd show everyone that not everything can be set in stone as the producers and writers of Teen Titan have set for our two most popular characters. I'm not one to just set and let things roll over me like that. I think you all agree with me on this too. All right, I'll stop talking as I know I'll just ramble, so let's start the Halloween festive!

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**All Hallow's Eve**

It's been six months after the Titans returned as heroes from Japan. In that time, Robin and Starfire have taken their relationship to new heights. Spending all their non-crime fighting time out together, sitting next to one another in common room, on the roof, sparring together. Yeah, it looked to be the perfect couple to anybody that watched them, but as everything in this world; nothing is perfect as people would like to believe.

Robin was happy enough, yes, to be with the alien girl that was the cause of them all joining together to become Titans. He liked spending time with her as her boyfriend and the kisses; he couldn't deny they were breathtaking. She was the light in his world that brightened his soul. He couldn't have prayed for anyone as wonderful as Starfire to be with him.

But he had come to find out that she wanted to spend a little too much time with him. Right to the point she wanted to sleep in the same bed as he. It wasn't anything sexual as they still haven't reached that point in their relationship yet. They both were too nervous to jump into that boat. Although, Starfire had hinted a few times that she was willing with her heated kisses and roaming hands whenever the two were in an intimate embrace. He knew he was the one holding off that next step and he had his reasons. He didn't think he was ready for it with her. If nothing else it showed his own willpower over temptation as Starfire was the ideal dream girl for the Boy Wonder. Or that's how everyone thought it was with him and her.

Personally, he was tired of what everyone was saying about him and Starfire. He was tired of what they thought their relationship was like and how perfect it was for him to make the choice. He was just plain tired of it. He knew he cared for Starfire deeply, he would say he loved her, but he had forgotten what love really felt like a long time ago. He couldn't tell the difference anymore since the incident that caused him to join Batman and become Robin. And he wouldn't admit it to Starfire, but it was one of the many things that didn't make his relationship with Starfire perfect as everyone thought it to be. When they came back from Japan, she wanted to know everything about him, all his secrets, all his memories, all that made him, him. It was her insistence of prying into his life that drove him to begin distancing himself from her. He didn't do it to be cold to her or mean; he just had skeleton he wanted to remain in their closet and never see the light of day. But as he said to himself before, she was the light in his soul…and that same light wanted to burn its way into passages he didn't want it to.

Robin thought it was just his personal flaw at letting people get too close to him, like his mentor and adopted father, Batman. He thought it'd go away the more he was around Starfire, but it never did go away; after six months of being with Starfire, the feeling of isolation never left him. It drove him crazy. He wanted that feeling to go away, to go further with Starfire as he knew she wanted to with him. But that feeling, that need to keep walls up kept him from taking that finally step in their relationship.

Starfire told him that she would respect his choice in waiting a bit longer, in the belief that he just needed time. Robin, though, believed that time wouldn't make it go away. In all honesty it only made it worse. It annoyed him to no end and made him question his feelings towards Starfire…

Then there was the other problem settling on his mind: Raven.

Since they returned to the City, she had become more reclusive. Hardly ever coming out of her room except to eat with the team and when the call came. Other than that, she was a ghost to them all. She never spoke much when they were returning from a mission or joined in the dinner conversations. When someone asked her a question, she'd blink slowly at them and return to her book or walk off. Or that was what she did whenever he talked to her. He'd seen her talk to Beast Boy and Cyborg often enough. It was just when he or Starfire tried; she'd remain quiet and distant and gave them a reason to leave. It plagued him as to why she was acting this way, and he couldn't leave a problem unsolved no matter what. He was too much of the detective to let it.

He only had to wait until the opportune moment, and as fate would have it, it was going to be tonight, during their annual Halloween party. All of them, including the withdrawn Raven, looked forward to the party and made their plans. Starfire wanted to do matching costumes with Robin, to symbolize what was already apparent. He was quick to tell her that he didn't want to do something like that; it freaked him out too much. It was hard to convince her as she would not be deterred. He compromised with going in matching costumes next Halloween. She agreed reluctantly to this, but she counted it up as his hesitance in their relationship, which brought him again back to why he was like this. Could it be that he didn't feel as deeply as he though towards her….?

Which was what he was thinking about as he got ready for the Halloween party. He put on the costume that he himself had worked on and was proud over, as it was this costume gave him the wanted excuse to be alone to work on, telling Starfire that he wanted it to be a surprise for her and everyone. He worked hard on it and took his time about it, too. The time he spent on it gave him time to think about everything; his relationship with Starfire; how he really felt about her inside; figuring out what was the matter with Raven and why he noticed her absence. Raven's pattern had greatly bugged him since she started to pull away from him. She was his friend, too. He wanted to spend time with her as much as he did with them all. What could it be he wondered?

Those answers he would get tonight, one way or another.

After placing the finally piece of his costume on, he looked himself over in the mirror and grinned. "This is gonna shock every one…hehe."

He left his room and made his way to the common room, where he heard the music at full blast and Beast Boy and Cyborg were dancing with Starfire. The three were in their costumes already, too. Beast Boy was dressed as a Court Jester; the coloring was green with purple diamonds on the left side and purple with green diamonds on the other. His mismatched colored shoes had silver bells at the tip of them, same with his three pointed jester hat; and in his right hand he waved a jester rod with the same coloring as his costume with a feline-smiling face on it instead of the normal long nosed, goofy wide smiling face. Cyborg had completely redone himself. Switching his armor with a solid blue set of armor and a round blue helmet, it took him one second to realize that he was dressed up as Mega Man. As for Starfire's costume, it was completely unexpected of her. He expected her to wear a fairy princess costume, or something along that line. No, she was dressed like a ninja, more preciously Haruno Sakura. Her hair styled as Sakura's hair was when it was long, with the ninja headband worn around her hair. What made the sufficient differences was her coloring and unlike the fiery kunoichi, Starfire filled areas that gave her outfit its due justice.

The moment he walked in, all of them stopped dancing and gazed at him as he greeted them with a wicked grin that flashed the capped fangs he was wearing. His eyes shined with amusement as they took in his look. He didn't have to worry about them seeing that as his eyes were hidden behind orange-tinted sunglasses and he was wearing red contact lenses under them to give his costume the wanted affect. He tipped the brim of his red fedora with a white-gloved hand that had a black pentagram on the back palm and sauntered in with his other hand tucked in the pocket of the red overcoat he wore over a grey eighteenth century suit and red bow tie ending with black riding boots that reached up to his knees.

"Whoa, didn't think you liked Hellsing, Robin," Beast Boy said.

"There's a few things you'd be surprised I liked," Robin replied.

Starfire moved over to him with a smile on her face. "Then tell us."

Robin frowned at her. He knew she just meant tell her. This was just her innocent way of trying to pry information out of him.

"Yeah, tell us, Robin," a monotone voice said from behind him.

It had been a long time since he heard that voice speak and to hear it—even if it was uncaring and devoid of everything—made his heart soar. He turned his head to look behind him and froze when his eyes landed on Raven. Like Starfire, he never expected Raven to wear something so…unusual for her. What's more, he expected from Raven to always wear something that hid her body like her normal outfit. The costume she was wearing made his jaw slowly drop and his sunglasses slide down to the tip of his nose.

Raven strolled into the common room, holding a bouquet of dead flowers in her hands, holding them up before her. His eyes spotted that she wore a white, ragged glove that reached up to her elbow, on the other, just enough to cover her wrist. When she moved, the white, worn-down veil she had thrown back floated behind her like the wings of a butterfly, the gentlest of breeze made it fan out behind her like an eerie halo that lit up her blue skin that she painted to make herself look dead. She didn't have to put much on as her pale skin gave her an ethereal beauty that matched and maybe surpassed Starfire's radiant beauty. Or maybe that was just what her costume was making him think. His eyes landed on a ragged white wedding gown with a corset that pushed up her chest to reveal more cleavage then he'd ever seen Raven intentionally show, which was practically never. She painted her left arm to resemble a skeleton's and her left cheek was done up to look like it had rotted away to expose her teeth. His eyes moved from her cheek to her hair, noting she wore a blue wig that reached to her hourglass-shaped waist. Then his eyes went back up to her face to admire her hollowed painted eyes and petite nose with black lines carefully done to make the illusion she had no nose.

Raven walked right up to Robin and raised her painted arm up to his face and pushed his sunglasses back up to their proper place. "I guess I chose the right costume to wear, huh?"

Robin tried speaking but words failed him. Raven gave him the faintest of grins and walked past him to join the others. His eyes and head turned with her and stared at the back of her head when she stopped and turned back to him. Her grin grew an inch more for him.

"Well, are we going to party or not?" Raven asked in a casual tone, breaking above her usual empty one.

"Y-Yeah!" Robin stuttered, then looked past her to the others. "Let's party!"

Starfire cheered and floated up to him and wrapped her arms around his right one and pulled him to the middle of the room to dance.

Raven watched them and broke her gaze from them to stare at the floor and walked to her favorite spot and sat down. She crossed her legs at the ankles and moved them to the side slightly and placed her bouquet on her lap. She sat their and just watched the couple dance away to the Halloween music that filled the Tower. Normally, she would enjoy it as this was the only time they'd play her kind of music, but all she wanted was for the music to stop to make the couple stop dancing. She frowned at herself for thinking that and moved her eyes to stare at her lap, only for her eyes to move back up to the couple and frown more. Beast Boy and Cyborg got tired of dancing and moved over to the table to stuff their faces with the candy they bought for the party. It was hopeless to even try to get any candy now. Once they started, she knew they wouldn't stop till all the candy was gone. She even bet if she stuck her hand in between them, they'd bite it off before she could touch the wrapper of a candy bar.

"Like always…I'm the one that's left out," Raven sighed silently to herself, feeling the shallow hole in herself grow to consume what little hope she had built for the party.

At that moment, Robin suddenly stopped dancing with Starfire, bowed out, and walked over to Raven. She didn't realize he was until his boots came into view of the patch of floor her eyes were glaring at. Startled, she jerked her head up at him and bore her eyes at him in question.

"Yeah?" she said blankly.

Robin averted his eyes from hers for a moment, and then returned them to meet hers. "Thought you might like some company…."

"What makes you think that?" Raven asked, a hint of sarcasm edged into it.

"….Intuition," Robin replied, raising his hand to rub his neck shyly. "Just felt you were kinda depressed, that's all."

"I'm fine," Raven stated blankly.

"Then why are your eyes telling me a different story?" Robin inquired.

She hastily stared at the floor again, not looking up to him when she spoke again. "I'm all right. Go back to Starfire before she misses you."

The harshness in her voice sliced through Robin like a knife. "Raven?"

She made to stand and brushed back Robin. He grabbed her arm gently and she halted. "Let go of me…"

"Raven, I just want to…"

"Please…let go of me," Raven said, and her voice sounded full of tears.

Robin held onto her wrist and pulled her around to face him and to his surprise, he saw her eyes were tearing up.

"Raven, did I do something to hurt you?" Robin asked with deep concern.

"No," Raven replied, fighting to keep the tears from falling. The last thing she needed was to be caught crying and ruin the make-up she spent hours on applying. "It's me, Robin. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Does it have to do with why you keep avoiding me ever since we came back from Japan?" Robin deduced.

She looked away again and didn't speak.

"It is then…" Robin looked over her head to see Starfire watching them curiously. He looked over at Beast Boy and Cyborg, who were still cramming as much candy into their mouths. He ignored Starfire's penetrating eyes and motioned for Raven to follow him. "Come on…we need to talk."

Raven let him lead her out of the common room and up to the roof. When they got up there, the cool October breeze greeted them and created a whipping cape behind Raven with her veil and wigged hair. Robin made to move to stand against the breeze and block some of it for her. If she cared that her costume was getting ruined, she did not look concern in the slightest. He placed a hand on the top of his fedora to keep it from blowing off his head.

"Talk to me, Raven…What's wrong?" Robin asked.

"I…" Raven turned to him and then looked away again. "It's stupid, really. You'll laugh and so will everyone else if I told you…"

"I promise I won't laugh. Whatever it is, you know you can tell me," Robin replied kindly.

It made her sigh somewhat in relief, yet she was still hesitant to say what it was. "I don't think I can tell you, Robin. I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"I feel like that's breaking apart already, Raven," Robin said, hating himself for saying it so bluntly.

She looked up at him again with those unsure eyes. "I know…"

"Raven, I don't want whatever it is that's making you pull away from me to ruin our friendship. Surely, what you're trying to tell me won't cause it either," Robin said.

"Yes, it will," Raven said, sniffing lightly. She was beginning to lose her battle with her tears.

"Please, Raven. Tell me," Robin said softly to her, reaching out to touch her arm.

She flinched from his touch but didn't pull away from him. She stood there, looking very doubtful and staring hard at everything but him. "I…love you."

Robin felt his world just sweep out from all around him. "You…"

"I said it!" Raven shouted at him, locking her tearful eyes on his sunglasses. "I love you and I know I'll never be able to be with you!"

"Raven…" Robin said, looking lost with her words.

She pulled away from his touch and held herself, dropping her bouquet. "I know, I know! You're going to say you don't love me. I know exactly what you will say because I've thought about it for a long time now."

Robin merely stood rooted to the spot and listened in silence.

"You can't feel anything for me because you're with Starfire and you can't be with someone like me," Raven continued. "Why should you? Starfire is the ideal girl for you. You two are the perfect couple. I'm just a nobody that's not even worth the time of day; much less a single glance at to ever compete with her…"

"Stop the fuck right there!" Robin yelled, startling Raven. He moved in to close the space between them and placed his hands on her arms. "I'm tired of hearing people keep saying that we're the perfect couple! I'm sick of it! And you're not a nobody because I notice everything about you!"

Raven was frightened by his outburst. She didn't know what to make of it.

"I notice every time you walk into a room, when you pass by me in the corridors. I notice every detail of your face when you smile, how your eyes shine like twilight when their filled with mirth," Robin said, calming down. "I notice the way you walk and how your hips move to a rhythm that makes angels envious…when you read a book and how your face looks so tranquil and excited by the mystery or surprise that book contains. I do notice you, Raven. I've noticed the first moment when you started hiding from me. It started ripping me apart to not see you. Why did you think you had to hide from me?"

"Because…" Raven said with a shaky voice, tears threatening to pour and never end. "…It hurt me too much to see you with Starfire."

"It did?" Robin said.

"Yes! It did!" Raven said, feeling her anger get the better of her. "Seeing you two be so close caused me to feel my own loneliness more. Watching how you touched her hand or holding her in your arms made me ache to be in her place, when I knew I never will…It hurt so much, I had to keep away. To keep myself from wanting to cry. I hate crying, Robin…I hate it more than anything. But not as much as acting the way I am now! I'm yelling and I have no right to take my anger out on you. You don't deserve that…I'm so sorry."

She wanted to run away and get as far away as possible. She couldn't bear to look at him and see the resentment in his face. Staying in her room, she played this moment over and over in her head, picturing every time Robin pushing her away with a look of disgust and stalking away to hug Starfire and never look at her again. How he would just say she really was stupid and call her ugly and then laugh at how dumb she was to think he had a chance with him. She waited and waited for him to retaliate at her…but it never came. Instead of arms pushing her away, they pulled her in close and enveloped her in a crushing hug.

"I never meant to make you feel this way, Raven," Robin said sorrowfully, looking ready to cry himself.

Raven stood their motionless. Her mind wasn't letting her believe that he wasn't pushing her way that he wasn't hugging her so intensely, that the tears she heard from him weren't real.

"I didn't stop to think what you might feel about me picking Starfire," Robin admitted. "I never once thought you'd feel that way towards me…I thought you didn't like me in that way."

"I did, you idiot," Raven said, wrapping her arms around him. "But the only reason why I never told you was because I wanted you to be happy and I knew you'd never be happy with me. Starfire is the one that you deserve to be with, not an ice queen like me…"

"Don't start that again!" Robin demanded. "You are deserving, Raven. Don't ever think Starfire is better than you. You are just as great as she is and more because you understand people. You're far greater in that field than Starfire, because you are so sensitive on the inside…"

Raven shook her head. "No, I'm not. I don't feel anything, remember? I'm the ice-queen...I can't feel anything because if I do, my powers will just cause destruction."

"You're stronger then before," Robin stated. "You've got a handle on them already. You're just letting yourself think that you can't."

"No, Robin…I…" Raven fell silent and rested her forehead on his shoulder. "I don't know anymore…I just want this feeling to go away!!"

"Feeling?" Robin echoed, looking down at the top of her head.

"Yes, this isolating feeling that feels like walls all around me, keeping me from reaching out to anyone ever again," Raven mourned.

Robin gave a soft cry and hugged her more. "Raven, that's how I've been feeling for the last six months."

Raven looked up at him in wonder. "Really? W-Why? You're with Starfire now, how can that be?"

"Easier than you think," Robin replied. "I care for her, I always will. I want to still be near her, but I feel not in the way she wants me to be now."

"I…I don't understand," Raven said honestly.

"Whenever I'm with her, I feel like something isn't quite right. Like I'm missing something and I can't figure out what it is," Robin said. "Then there's the relentless pressure of her wanting to know my every detail. She probes and pushes even when I tell her to stop. She wants to know all my pain, and I know she means well, but my pain is just that, mine. I can't talk to her about it, Raven, because…because it's too much to bear and I'd tear myself apart if I told her things that I know she couldn't ever understand. I don't want to corrupt her light. I'm too shaded on the inside. I…"

Raven touched his face. "You don't have to explain to me, Robin. You never have to with me…"

How right she was, too. He almost forgot that she was in his mind and witnessed the horrors that he kept locked up inside him deep down. He knew she knew him from the inside out and never once has she ever confronted him about it. She never pressed him, never expected him to give away any of his thoughts. She always was respective of that and he wondered why he never thought about it before until now.

"Raven…how come you understand me and why am I so blind?" Robin asked.

Raven didn't want to answer that question as she knew where it would lead to and once she did, there was no turning back for either of them. But she was tried of being alone; for once she wanted to get her way, even at what it might cost.

"I don't try to understand you, Robin. I know you have things you want to keep a secret, because I'm the same way. I want to keep my secrets to myself. I don't want to share them with anyone else, until I want to share them," Raven said, nuzzling her face in the fabric of his coat, not caring anymore that she was ruining her make-up. "As for being blind, you never were…You had a crush on Starfire and it kept all your focus on her, ever since we first created the team. She always had your attention before I began to feel this way about you."

"When did it start?" Robin asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," Raven replied. "I think it was when you accepted me to be a part of the team. When you tried to protect me from Slade and it just kept on growing when you saved me at the end. I knew after that I loved you, but I, I couldn't be with you…It hurt to realize. I didn't want to believe it, but it's the truth, Robin. I wanted so bad to be with you, I just couldn't work the nerve to ever tell you."

Robin placed a hand on the back of her head, stroking the faux hair that prevented him from touching her real hair. He so badly wanted to touch her for real, to give her the comfort she had been dying for. Nothing matter to him except Raven in that instant.

"I wish you did," Robin whispered close enough for her to hear it.

She stared up into his fake red eyes, watching him remove the sunglasses and hat and stare at her with such intensity, that it made her stomach flutter and her legs threatened to collapse.

"If I had known from the start that you felt this way, I wouldn't have put you through this for so long," Robin said, cupping her face and inching his face to hers.

She tried to pull away from his touch, but her body wasn't obeying her. "You…can't mean that."

"I do…" Robin breathed over her trembling lips and caressed him softly with his.

It wasn't a mind-blowing kiss or a passionate one that she's seen him do with Starfire a dozen times. This one was special in another way. It was soft and caring, making her let go of all her tension, her anxiety disappeared and all that was left was the relaxing feeling of his warm lips coursing a wave of something made her feel light. Feeling her willingness, Robin pressed his lips a fraction harder against her soft, moist lips. Her arms moved up to hold his shoulders and she bent her neck back and began kissing back. Taken by her courage, he let his hands slide down to rest on her curvy hips. Neither knew how long it was before they stopped kissing like this, even the need to refill their lungs was forgotten as they continued to kiss so tenderly. Both were so dazed by the kiss that Robin couldn't tell when he had pulled back and opened his eyes, which had closed when he kissed her. Raven still kept her neck arched and her eyes closed, burning the feel of his lips forever into her mind. Robin didn't know this but this was the first kiss she ever had, and he never would have guessed that he was the one she wanted so badly to experience it with. This was like a dream come true. After another moment, she opened her eyes in time to see that a harvest moon hanged in the sky right about Robin's head. He grinned at her and the effect of his costume with the background scene made her quiver inside with awe.

"Red is definitely your color. I like you in red," Raven murmured, memorizing every detail on the scene.

Robin grinned, flashing his fake fangs at her. "Then I'll have to remember to wear lots of red on our date."

Raven gawked at him. "What?"

"Our. Date," Robin repeated with mocking amusement.

Raven frowned at him. "Don't play with me, Robin. We can't and you know it."

"Yes, we can. Because tomorrow I'm going to confront Starfire and tell her that we need to start seeing other people," Robin replied, with that grin still on his face.

"You're serious?" Raven gasped.

"I've never been more serious, Raven," Robin said, leaning down and kissing her chin. He wiped the tear that had finally broken through, careful to keep from smudging her make-up too much.

Raven hugged him tighter and let go of a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding. "I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything," Robin said, kissing her again.

She let the kiss take her and relished in the abandonment of it. Robin kissed her with more passion than the first one, but nowhere close to make anything proceed further. He wanted to feel her lips again and feel that center of peace again, that was all. He didn't want to rush this, not with Raven, not wishing to ruin it with simple impulses as Raven's first relationship with an evil dragon scarred her from venturing out to other people. He was going to do his show Raven that relationships were nothing like that one she had. He would work on trying to give her the same sense of peace that she gave to him. It was true, her touch made those barricading walls in his soul left away, leaving himself exposed to her unknowingly and uncaringly. A simple embrace like this cracked the walls that Starfire had pounded on for six months in a matter of six seconds after making contact with her lips for the first time. He wondered what else he would discover with Raven, and he was all too eager to find out. From the serene expression on Raven's face, he knew she was just as eager, too.

Raven withdrew from the kiss this time and started laughing.

"What?" Robin asked.

"Your face!" Raven replied in between laughing.

"My face?" Robin uttered.

Raven continued to laugh and reached up and wiped the blue make-up that had rubbed off around his mouth with the end of her veil and showed him it to him.

"OH!" Robin cried and rubbed his face to come back with a blue stained glove, then he, too, started to laugh.

Raven giggled some more to herself as she cleaned off the rest of the make-up off his face, then wondered about the state her face was in if so much was rubbed off. She hid her face from Robin and covered the lower part of her face with her hands. Robin chuckled with full mirth in it and turned her back again, finding her reaction amusing.

"It's okay," Robin chuckled to her.

"Okay for you!" Raven snipped. "I spent five hours on getting this full on me, not to mention the hours I spent practicing in my room to get it right!"

"You look gorgeous either way," Robin replied, making her blush.

Raven stared at his chest and then back up at him with a small smile. "Thank you…no one's called me that before."

"You don't have to thank me for that, Raven. I'm just stating what's already apparent to see, even if you hide it from yourself," Robin replied.

Raven blush grew past her face and down over her body, a tingling warmth circulated up and down her body that made her forget that it was a bit cold outside.

"If you say so…I'll just take your word on that for now," Raven replied, still hiding her mouth from him. "…Can I go back to my room and fix this? I feel very awkward with having just half this stuff off and I don't want to take it all off yet."

"Sure thing," Robin replied with a smirk. "I'll head back to the party and wait for you there, okay?"

"Okay," Raven said with a growing smile. She turned to leave but then turned her head to look at Robin from the side. "Umm...Robin?"

"Yeah, Raven?" Robin replied, putting his hat and sunglasses on.

"…Can I…I mean, will you dance with me tonight?" Raven requested, feeling embarrassed for asking for it.

"Not only I will I dance with you, Raven," Robin said, walking up to her. "But I'll keep on dancing with you until we're both unable to."

Raven beamed inwardly and marched off with a warm smile to her room. Robin grinned much like the character he was portraying tonight and couldn't get rid of it as he headed back down to the party, where Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy were bobbing for apples in a huge water bucket they set up for the party. Cyborg just pulled up from the water with amazingly three apples in his mouth. Starfire next came up with just one, and Beast Boy morphing into an alligator came up with twelve in his jaws and giggling. Starfire let the apple fall from her mouth and beamed when she saw Robin return and floated over to him.

"Beloved Robin! We were just bobbing for the apples!" Starfire said, smiling so happily.

It had Robin feel so bad inside to see her so happy when he was going to give her bad news the next day. It was cruel of him to make her wait, but he thought it would have been cruel had he chosen to tell her now and ruin the holiday for her.

"That's great, Star," Robin said, putting up a façade smile for her.

"You might try it, too, Robin!" Starfire said and tugged him over to the bucket, but then, she seemed to remember something and looked at him questionably. "Robin, what did you and Raven do that forced to seek solitude with one another?"

'_Crap!' _Robin thought. "She wanted to talk to me about something, that's all."

She frowned slightly. "What did she want to converse with you?"

"I don't need to tell you what, Starfire," Robin said somewhat curtly. "She wanted to talk to me about something personal and it's between me and her, not you."

Starfire looked struck by his words and her eyes averted his angry gaze. "I only asked…I didn't mean to upset…"

Robin sighed. "No, Star, it's my fault. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

Starfire looked back at him. "I know. You are just 'hesitating' that is all."

Robin frowned again. "…Right."

She smiled at him and tugged on his arm again. "Come, let us forget our woes and enjoy the spooky, joyous fun of this hallowed eve!"

Robin doubted he would have anymore fun tonight very seriously. She brought him over to the bucket and removed his fangs before he attempted to get an apple. After five minutes of ducking his face down and maneuvering his mouth, he came up with one at last.

"Huah!" Robin said with the apple still in his mouth, then taking it out. "Gotcha!!"

"Hooray!" Starfire cheered for him. "You have come out victorious as I knew you would!"

Robin stared at the apple and tried to keep from frowning. What was the deal, anyway? Not too long ago he would be smiling if Starfire acknowledged him like that. But now, all it did was make him uneasy to hear.

'_Might be due to the fact that you just kissed Raven not too long ago, Robin,' _Robin said to himself mentally. _'That might be the root of it.'_ Then he took a bite out of the apple, giving him a reason not to talk for a moment while Starfire smiled at him.

"All right, ya'll!" Cyborg exclaimed. "Ya know that we can't have a proper Halloween without…" He signaled for Beast Boy and the changeling appeared with an arm full of movies. "…The Teen Titan's Non-stop, Hallow-liciously, spook-tacler, Movie Scare-a-thon!!"

"Yeah, and this year we got all the best, scariest movies of all time!" Beast Boy added, walking over to the TV and setting the DVDs down and putting the first movie in the player.

"What are we watching first?" Robin asked.

"Thought we'd start out with Saw!" Beast Boy replied.

Starfire paled. "Could we not watch the one with the talking chipmunks confronting the Frankenstein monster first?"

"That's a kid's movie!!" Cyborg shouted in appall. "This is way better than Alvin and The Chipmunks!"

"But…This movie is gruesome," Starfire complained.

"That's the point!!!" Cyborg and Beast Boy said in unison.

Starfire shrank back and hid behind Robin, who was sighing heavily.

"Robin, don't you wish not to see this movie, too?" Starfire said, looking up at him over his shoulder. "This movie stands for what you fight to prevent, does it not?"

Robin looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, but it's just a movie, Star. That's the fun of it."

Starfire squirmed and lowered her head.

"It's Halloween, Star. This is what you're supposed to do, get scared and enjoy yourself," Robin said, trying to reason with her.

"The scaring part is my least favorite part of this particular holiday," Starfire admitted. "I like the fun of dressing up and the consumption of junk food, just not this part."

"…But I do," Robin murmured.

"What, Robin?" Starfire asked, perking her head up.

"Nothing," Robin replied and moved to the couch and sat down on it.

Starfire looked poignantly at the back of Robin's head, but didn't say anything and joined him on the couch. Cyborg came over with more junk food for them and sat down with the rest of them as Beast Boy started the movie. As promised by the acclaimed title of their scare-a-thon, not more than two minutes in the movie and they were screaming in fright. As it moved on, Robin began to wonder when Raven was coming back. She was taking a long time to reapply her make-up. He was about to get up and go see if everything was all right, when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a slight shift of weight in the empty spot next to him. He looked up to be greeted with a redone ghoulish face that was faintly smiling at him. She say anything to him, she merely greeted him with a warm look on her face and turned to watch the movie. He didn't need anymore than that from her and settled in back in the couch throwing his arms back to rest on the backrest. The action let him seem like he was just relaxing and allowing him to put an arm around Raven without making it look too inconspicuous. His cue proved too effective as Starfire saw it as an invitation to curl up against him and cower in fright whenever a scary scene popped up.

Raven took note of this and covertly watched Robin's reaction. He didn't respond at all to her redheaded friend's need to feel protected, as if believing that at any minute, the scenes on the movie would pop out of it and come alive….Well, there was that one time, but that was more on her unwillingness to admit her own fear. What did matter the most was that his arm remained firmly on the backrest, the one that was draped behind Starfire. What his other arm was doing was much to her liking. His hand was idly running a finger through her wig and stroking past her real hair to caress her hairline, as that was the only part of her that wasn't touched by make-up. It was comforting to feel his finger massage that part of her scalp and wonder a bit down the back of her neck.

She remained composed like that as his hand played back there throughout the movie, then the next movie, then the next movie, and continued on. By the fourth movie she was beginning to feel sleepy and with Robin's touch relaxing her so, she was drifting off on the couch. Her eyes had closed before her head had started to sink, so wasn't aware that her head was presently using Robin's shoulder as a pillow. Robin liked the contact and would have enjoyed it if he didn't have another head on the opposite side of him using him as a pillow as well. Starfire had kept closing her eyes during the scary parts of the movie, forcing her to keep her eyes shut throughout the whole thing as every scene terrified her, forcing her to close them again. The lack of light and the familiar warmth next to her had easily carried her off to sleep.

Robin stared at them both, thinking how'd it look to some bystander to see the only female members on the team curled up against him and sleeping. Being mostly a typical guy himself, he could easily imagine the thoughts going through their head; in which, he would have to beat them senseless for thinking that way about them. He couldn't abide to let someone think so lowly of two of his closest friends. Although, secretly, a darker part of his mind was working on quite a few ideas for this particular situation. Leaving him to mentally beat the living crud out of that side of him and leave it whining in pain in the back corner of his mind.

It was clear past midnight now, officially ending Halloween for some people, but for the Titans, it meant that the party was halfway over. They would remain up and watch movie Halloween movies, until the crack of dawn. In that time, Robin was beginning to get stiff with having two bodies lay on top of him, inevitably pinning him there. He was too polite and kindhearted to wake his friends from their rest, even when his butt had gone numb from deprived circulation, allowing the numbness to spread out to his legs and creep up his waist. Pure willpower kept him from squirming so badly under the two. To some it might be very impressive to see him be so still for so long a time. Why he was putting up with this was for two reasons. The first was that one of Raven's hands had ended up clutching the rim of his jacket and pulled it close to her; the sight of it was too precious to disturb, she looked so calm to him. The other reason was that in just a few hours he would have to tell Starfire that he wanted to end their relationship and see other people, and when he meant people, he meant allowing him to go out with Raven. It was cruel and kind of heartless of him to do that to her, and it would eat at him on the inside, but he wasn't sure anymore he wanted to be in a relationship with her. He would always have his walls up to her. He would want to keep secrets from her regardless how opened she wanted him to be with her as she was opened to him. It was how he was and deep down he understood that she would never try and understand that part of him. So the least he could do was let her be blissfully happy for a while longer.

But as it was, that was about to quickly end when she awoke and opened her eyes to find Raven's face just inched from hers on his chest. She jolted up and stared at her in bemusement as to why she was sleeping on her boyfriend. Answer came quickly when she spotted where Robin's arm was and the telltale hint of blue stain on his white glove. Looking very protective over what she considered hers, she tapped his chest roughly enough to shake him and force Raven awake from the abrupt movement.

She rubbed her eyes and then shot them open when she realized what she was doing and jerked away from

Robin. "S-Sorry, I guess I dosed off. Didn't mean to fall asleep on you, Robin."

Robin waved the hand behind Starfire idly. "I didn't mind."

Starfire narrowed her eyes at him, then she pawed at his chest lovingly as was her normal routine when sitting with him; knowing or unknowingly laying claim that he was hers and that Raven was trespassing. If Raven picked up on this she didn't look the least bit concerned. She erected herself and rested against the back of the couch again. Robin's hand returned to rest innocently on the backrest behind her head.

"I think maybe you should go get some rest, friend Raven, if you are tired," Starfire said, trying to make it sound more like a suggestion rather than what she really wanted it to be.

"I'm fine," Raven replied nonchalantly. "That little bit did me good."

"…I see. If you are sure then," Starfire murmured and laid her head back on Robin's chest.

Before she could get comfortable again, Robin used that moment to get up and stretch and get his circulation back before the numbness drove him insane.

"Sorry, Star, but my body went to sleep on me and I can't stand it anymore," Robin said, sitting back down and rubbing out the pin-needle feeling in his legs as blood again flowed into them. "I hate it when this happens…ah!"

"One of my Tamaranean techniques will quickly cure you of your discomfort," Starfire offered, cracking her knuckles.

"I can save you the grief," Raven said and touched Robin's leg.

Starfire glared at the hand and fought the urge to physically rip the hand off him and beat its owner senseless with it. She moved to brush the hand off indeed. "Your help is appreciated, friend Raven, but I can help Robin by myself."

"Only take a second," Raven said, not letting her hand be removed from Robin.

"I said, I will handle this," Starfire said more heatedly.

"It's okay, really!!" Robin interjected, waving his hands in between them. "The feelings already come back and the prickling sensations have gone."

"I still think I should perform my technique to make sure, Robin," Starfire insisted.

"He said he doesn't need our help anymore, Star," Raven said.

Starfire couldn't stop the faint glow in her eyes which was responded by the equally faint glow of Raven's.

Sensing things beginning to get out of hand, quickly, Robin intervened again with asking Beast Boy: "What are we going to watch next?"

"Freddy vs. Jason," the changeling replied.

Robin narrowed his eyes at him and shifted his gaze between the two glaring girls. _'Somehow, I don't think that's going to help my predicament, Beast Boy…'_

Beast Boy didn't seem to pick up on this and put the movie in anyway. As it started, Robin hoped that Raven and Starfire would calm down and focus on the movie. They didn't…

He could feel their gaze burn right between them at each other. He could almost see the friction line building up right before his eyes. "I'm gonna go get something drink…I'm getting hot for some reason."

"I will join you!" Starfire said, getting up with him.

He looked back at Raven as he stood. "Want anything, Raven?"

She crossed her arms and turned her head to stare at the TV screen. "…I'm fine."

"You sure?" Robin asked.

Raven nodded staunchly, looking ready to break something and he hoped it wouldn't be something irreplaceable….

"If you're sure," Robin said, giving her one last chance.

She tilted her head and looked at Starfire leeching to his arm. "I think I'd be crowding…"

Robin gave up and went to the kitchen to get himself a cool drink. Pulling out a soda from the mini-fridge, he placed the cold beverage on the back of his neck to cool him down. His costume was burning him up!! How did anyone wear so many thick layers and look so casual in them when they were sweating like a pig? It didn't help any with the obvious tension between Raven and Starfire. As if keeping up on his thoughts, the Tamaranean princess pulled Robin further into the kitchen, away from the others to speak with him.

"Have you noticed some peculiar about friend Raven?" Starfire questioned him in a low voice.

"Yeah, I have," Robin replied blankly.

"She appears to be…drawn to you for some reason tonight," Starfire surmised.

There were times when he forgot that Starfire wasn't the naïve, petite girl that everyone commonly mistaken her to be.

"Yeah, I noticed," Robin said, playing it calm.

"I do not know why she is acting like this all of a sudden, but it concerns me she is reaching out for closure from the wrong source," Starfire stated.

Robin raised an eyebrow. "The wrong source?"

"She has been distant since our return from Japan and has shown familiar signs of depression when she really wishes to be close, but is too afraid to come out and tell us," Starfire said. "I believe she is looking to you for that closure."

"And why am I the wrong source?" Robin asked, feeling a little perturbed by her remark.

"Because you are with me and I think she might be at last wanting to begin 'the relationship'," Starfire said.

"So you're saying you're jealous that Raven looks to have an interest in me, is that right?" Robin deduced.

Starfire held up her hands. "No, no! I am not jealous of Raven. It's more of concern for her that she might be setting herself up to be hurt in some way if she tries to…"

"If she wants to rely on me to give her that 'closure', am I right, Star?" Robin snapped.

"I do not mean to sound that way, Robin, but I don't want her to have false hopes," Starfire replied quickly. "I want her to be happy as much as you do. Which is why I think she needs to focus maybe on someone that is 'available'….like Speedy!!"

"And what if Raven doesn't want to go out with Speedy?" Robin protested for Raven.

"Then…maybe Aqualad?" Starfire said, tapping her chin.

"Maybe she doesn't want to go out with Aqualad, either," Robin grunted, trying to keep his voice from rising.

"Goodness, who could it be then?" Starfire wondered to herself, not realizing his shortness with her. "There are a few others she might be interested. There is Hot Spot, Bushido…Wildebeest is out of the question as I'm not sure about him. Wait, Jericho just might be the one! I will contact him now and see if he would like to come over!"

Robin was at the end of his fuse as she listed off possible pairs for Raven like she was some hopeless case. With the way she had been acting for the last six months, he would have agreed with her; until he found out what was really the reason.

He grabbed Starfire's arm that was holding her T-Com. "No, it's late and he might be asleep already."

"You're right. I didn't stop to think of that," Starfire replied, looking crestfallen. "I will call him up tomorrow and arrange for…"

Robin shook her arm. "You're not arranging anything, Star."

Starfire turned to Robin in bewilderment. "But why? I'm only trying to help."

"No, you're trying to keep Raven from me so you can feel secure," Robin stated curtly.

"…I do not…" Starfire halted herself and looked away in shame. "I do feel a little threatened by her. I saw how her eyes followed you just now when we came in here."

'_She did?'_ Robin gawked inwardly. He didn't notice her doing that when he left. "…Is that why you think she is seeking closure with me?"

"I do," Starfire replied without hesitation.

Robin lowered his head and sighed deeply; he seemed to be doing that a lot tonight. "...I was going to wait till tomorrow but I…"

Starfire tipped her head slightly to the side. "Wait till tomorrow? Why? For what?"

Robin was trying to work up the courage to tell her, when Raven came into the kitchen and walked right between them to the fridge and opened it.

"I changed my mind. I was thirsty after all," Raven stated and took a soda out of the fridge.

"All right, friend Raven. But do you mind leaving? Robin and I were discussing about something he wanted to wait till tomorrow to do."

Raven turned in his direction with a calm, patient expression. Nothing in her posture gave away what had transpired up on the roof.

"And what would that be?" Raven asked, returning to her monotone voice.

"Please, this is between Robin and I…We…"

"We were just talking about you, Raven," Robin interrupted, crossing his arms after he opened his soda and took a sip from it.

"Oh?" Raven said, looking back to face Starfire. "What about?"

"This is not the time to be talking about this. Let us wait till a proper time," Starfire said.

"She wanted to find someone for you to hook up with so you wouldn't get attracted to me for…closure," Robin said without care.

Starfire huffed at him. "Robin!"

Robin shrugged and took another sip form his soda. "She has a right to know."

"Thanks for telling me, Robin," Raven said, narrowing her eyes at Starfire. "And who did you have in mind?"

"…Well, I thought perhaps Jericho," Starfire admitted. "He is kind and quite and seems genuinely nice."

"For a guy that lives on the top of a mountain with goats," Raven drawled.

"He likes to be secluded, like you. You two have that in common," Starfire remarked.

"That's one thing we share. Doesn't mean we have other things in common," Raven growled.

"I was only trying to help you, Raven," Starfire huffed more.

"I know what you were doing and if you feel this way then you must be unsure of your own…" Raven glanced at Robin and then back at her. "…closure."

Starfire marched over to Robin and intertwined her arms around the arm that he was using to hold his soda.

"There are no doubts in my feelings for Robin!" Starfire stated clearly.

"But there's doubt in me," Robin said quietly.

Starfire slowly turned her head to him. "What…?"

"I have doubts," Robin repeated louder. "I'm not sure if I feel the way I think I should for you, Star."

"How can you not be sure…You…" Starfire looked around franticly and then her eyes landed on his gloves, seeing that the one he held Raven in was stained, then she looked at the other and found that one oddly in worse condition. She knew he hadn't touched Raven with that hand…or had he? She met Raven's eyes with ferocity. "You put the doubt in him! When you and he left earlier to talk!"

Raven locked her eyes with hers without blinking. "I told him how I felt about him, that's all."

"How you felt? But you do not mean…" Starfire gasped, pulling away from Robin and backing two steps from them.

Robin looked at her flatly. "Yes, Star. She told me how exactly how she felt and why she never confronted me with it till tonight."

"Raven, I never guessed you had feelings for Robin…in that way," Starfire said with dread.

"You never asked…" Raven replied, this time looking away from her.

"I..." Starfire searched for some means to explain what was happening; her eyes led her back to Robin. "Robin, I'm feeling very lost right now. Why do you have the doubts, why are you suddenly looking at me as if…we were no longer 'the couple'?"

She begged him for the answers; it was clear in her tone. He couldn't stop himself from feeling like a total jerk for causing the pain visible in her eyes. What hurt worse was what he was going to say to her and have to live with not only ruining the holiday for her—although, technically it was over to most people when it struck midnight—he would have to watch her cry him over leaving her. If there was an easy way of doing this for her, he would have eagerly done it for her…but there weren't any easy ways with matters like this. There was no cheat code or secret technique to use to ease the agonizing pain he was about to inflict on his girl….no, ex-girlfriend.

"I don't think we can work out, Starfire," Robin said as softly as he could make it. His heart wrenched when he heard her soft gasp and whimpering as she began fighting back tears. "…It's not because of what you done, Star. It's me; it's my fault for not being able to make this perfect for you. I can't open up all of my heart like you want me to. I can't tell you every secret I hold or will hold. I'm shaded, Star….I have to keeps some defenses up all the time just to stay sane from things I never will tell you about. There are secrets in my soul that I can't speak to you openly with. I'm not the brilliant hero that comes shining down from some white horse to kill the dragon…I've killed too many dragons that its made me hollow and stained my armor, Star. I can't be the one for you…"

"But you can!" Starfire cried desperately. "With time you can overcome these things and you will see that you are not shaded as you think."

"But I am, Star. I always will be. Time won't fix that, it never will and I think you know it," Robin replied with a crestfallen heart. "I'm tired of giving everything time to change into something I know I can't be. I'm sorry this had to happen, Star, you don't believe it now and you might not ever, but I am absolutely sorry for putting you through this and I'm sorry that…I want to be just friends with you."

That last sentiment broke her. Starfire fell to her knees and covered her face to hide the flood of tears that had built up too long for her to hold. Robin felt more like a bastard for not going down to her and holding her to give her comfort. He wanted to say he was sorry, he would give what they had more time to work…But he couldn't stand lying to her. And that's what it would have been if he did; one big lie to give her false hope and dreams. He was cold at times, but he wasn't cruel…

Starfire wept and continued to on the floor. Robin and Raven stood their watching her or shifting their eyes to stare at something else, until their guilt forced them to return their sight on the broken hearted princess. It was shattering to see her pour her heart out with her tears and be powerless to do anything to stop them. Finally, Raven could not stand being idle and watch her best friend woe in misery. She bent down and took her into her arms and hugged her. Starfire didn't push her away as Robin would have thought she'd do. On the contrary, she grabbed a hold of her and placed her swollen red face on her shoulder and wept there. Raven stayed like that and let her cry on her; she didn't stroke her back or whisper words to comfort her. No, she was just something for Starfire to hold onto as she cried her heart out, and Robin hated himself for not being the brave one to kneel down to her and just cry on him. Raven was still a true friend to her, where's he just watched her and stood like an idiot as the girl that he saved from a hostile alien race, fought alongside to protect the city, the girl that led to the joining of the Teen Titans, cry on the girl that he wanted to be with now.

A minute later, Cyborg and Beast Boy came into the kitchen to find out what all the noise was about. Before either of them could open their mouths to ask what was going on, Robin waved a hand over his mouth and pointed back to the door. They took his hint and silently left the same way they came in, wondering why Starfire was crying so much.

Three minutes and a soaking clean, pale shoulder later, Starfire started calming down from sobs to sniffles.

"…You plan to do the 'going out' with Robin?" Starfire asked so low Robin almost missed it.

Raven nodded. "I do…that is if Robin changed his mind."

Robin kneeled down this time and touched her shoulder, then raised and placed a cautious hand on Starfire's. "I haven't changed my mind…I meant what I said."

Starfire hugged his hand to her red cheek with closed eyes and squeezed it tightly. "Then…I hope you find what you both are looking for…" She hugged Raven tightly without letting go of Robin's hand, then turned to him and hugged him, causing another wave of tears for her and she let go of him and tried her best to stop her tears. When she was sure she was done crying, she went over to the sink to wash her face and dried herself and walked out of the kitchen to rejoin Cyborg and Beast Boy, looking back at Robin one last time before turning away and leaving.

Robin and Raven now stood with the empty silence left in Starfire's wake. They were hoping the other would do something to break the unnerving peace and stop feeling so guilty.

It was Robin that grew bold this time and spoke up. "Raven?"

"Yeah?" Raven responded, glad that the uncomfortable moment was over.

"Want to dance?" Robin said, walking over to her and moved his right hand out to her.

"Wha—you want to dance after what just happened?" Raven gawked at him. "You just dumped Starfire and you jump to dancing with me?"

"Starfire's tough," Robin replied easily. "It would hurt her more if we moved around her like she was some fragile thing. It'd make her feel that we couldn't be happy her around." He stepped forward and grabbed Raven's hand and cupped his other around her waist, following her immediate blush. "Besides, I did promise you."

Raven fought to keep her blush from spreading again. "…I can't figure you out sometimes."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "What's that mean?"

"I mean, you can be like those Birdarangs you throw. You can be straight to hit the target or zoom around like a boomerang until the target is off guard and hit when they're not looking, or you throw it to hide your real attack," Raven replied. "I never know which tactic you're going to use when you strike."

Robin shrugged. "Never imagined being compared to one of my weapons, but I guess it makes sense."

"How can you do it?" Raven pondered.

"I just look at what's in front of me and what's there," Robin replied with another shrug. "It's also based on fact. I left Starfire and she knows it and has accepted it with tears, but she still accepts it. Acting any other way would just be wrong." He pulled Raven closer to him, almost pressing her against his body. "I'm with you now…and I don't want to remember this night with only the knowledge that I broke a heart."

Raven looked up at him sharply. There were tears in his red eyes.

"Robin…" Raven said so softly, touching his cheek with the back of her palm.

He took her hand in his and pressed it against his cheek. "I have too many bad memories, Raven. I don't want to make anymore…please."

Raven silently agreed and placed her free hand on his shoulder. "Shouldn't there be music?"

"Do you really need it?" Robin asked.

"No…" Raven replied with a smile.

Robin stepped forward and Raven stepped back, entering into a slow waltz, moving clumsily at first. Raven wasn't much of a dancer as she never saw much point in it. She knew how to dance as Beast Boy has continually dragged her off to a nightclub and showed off his style…which was only one, bad. She put up with it because it was one of the few times she willingly tried to hang out with the green changeling in hopes that he might not be as annoying as he always is. To her displeasure, he proved to be worse when they were alone. Taking every inch she gave him into a mile and pushing her when she didn't want to budge. Never taking her hints when she wanted some space or stopping when he takes things too far. With all the experience she's learned with Beast Boy—and even Malchior, as he was the only other 'man' in her life that took an interest in her—taught her that all men were cynical and self-centered when it came to relationships; it was a crude assumption to make on the opposite sex as she's only had two men to relate, she knew, but that wasn't the case with Robin. He was always different in a way that put him separate from other men. Watching him around Starfire had showed he was naturally kind and generous and knew when to stop and listen when Starfire wanted to talk. He did have a tendency to withdraw from everyone and hide from the world, mostly when he was working on a difficult case, but she did too when she needed to mediate and improve her powers.

That was one of the things that attracted her to the Boy Wonder. He was the only person in the Tower to never question when she needed to be alone. He wouldn't question her when she didn't feel like talking, unless he was sure something was not right. They wouldn't have to sit near each other and talk about anything, the closeness was enough for her and it seemed the same way with him. She understood his competitiveness when it came to games or sports, what male isn't competitive in some way? She couldn't remember a time where she was uncomfortable around him, even when they entered the old ruins under the library and her presence awoken the evil spirits residing inside. In fact, she longed for his presence more! She wanted to be held as fear gripped her heart as her inevitable destiny was coming to past. She just wanted to be held by him and feel safe and believe that things were going to be better, but things didn't and she fell into darkness and lost all hope. That is until he came and found her in the darkness, marching past her father's minions and journeying through a realistic Hell to rescue her. She knew from then on without a doubt she loved him. What man would go through a trial like that if he didn't feel something for the girl he was saving? Or that's what she wanted to believe that was the case for him.

Robin did treat her special, as he did with their friends, he made her feel unique when they were alone or when they hanged out, and even when he dating Starfire, he continued to treat her the same way and that was what forced her to retreat from him. The caring she longed for wasn't the kind she wasn't the kind he was giving; she wanted the kind that he gave Starfire and be the one that held his hand, curled up against his chest. It was pathetic when she thought about herself yearning for things like that, and she berated herself day and night for being so weak that she couldn't live without them. She thought of herself selfish for imaging herself with Robin when she was very clear of her friend's feelings for him.

"We shouldn't be doing this…" Raven said, breaking away from Robin.

"Huh? But Raven…"

She held up a hand to quiet him. "No, this isn't right. Starfire is the rightful one you belong to…not me. Look what I've caused with my wants; I've ruined my friendship with Starfire, you and her will be unsure around each other…I just ruin things…"

"Are you finished?" Robin said.

"Wha…? What's with that tone?!" Raven snapped.

"Nothing," Robin replied. "I was just waiting for you to get that out of your system."

Raven swiped her hand up to slap his face. Robin easily caught her wrist.

"You'll be ruining things if you run now, Raven," Robin said. "Backing out of this before we've even given it a try will be what ruins it all."

Raven sighed and relaxed the tense muscle in her arm. "I can't hurt Starfire…She means too much to me to hurt her like this."

"What do you want to do, Raven?" Robin asked her patiently.

"I don't know!" Raven growled at herself. "I don't want Starfire to be unhappy, but I want to be with you, too. Being with you will mean I lose her and if she's with you, I can't ever be with you. Either way I chose, someone loses…"

"You're making the same mistake that you were accusing me of not too long ago," Robin said.

"What mistake?" Raven said.

"You're not taking under consideration what I feel about this," Robin said.

"I…I assumed you'd…" She groaned as a headache was beginning to form.

"You assumed I'd just agree and run right back to Starfire, right?" Robin surmised.

Raven averted his gaze. "…Kinda."

Robin shook his head. "I'd be a real jerk if I keep running back and forth between you and Starfire every second."

"Yeah…" Raven said, keeping her eyes from looking at him.

"Hey," Robin said, cupping her face and moving her face to greet his. "…Let's take this slow, hmm?"

"Take it slow?" Raven echoed.

"Yeah, we'll take things back to square one, and I mean, square one," Robin said, taking a step back from her and sticking out his hand to her. "Hiya, I'm Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, how are you?"

Raven hid her smile behind her hand and took his hand in her other. "I'll give it a try. Hi…I'm Raven, the creepy, anti-social, bookworm member of the Titans."

"Aah, I'm sure you're not creepy once someone gets to know you," Robin replied with a cheery smile.

"Not many people ever try," Raven said.

"Well, then!" Robin said and squeezed her hand. "I'll be the one that does."

Raven suppressed a giggle. "You sure? I tend to scare people away; you see I can cause things to happen just by feeling emotions." She grinned wickedly with a gleam in her eye.

Robin pretended to be scared, then think about it. "Mmm, I'm the kind of guy that likes to walk the edge, so I like a little danger."

"You've been warned," Raven said. "So…uh, what now?"

"Now? Well, it so happens that we're having a Halloween party just in the other room. Would you like to join me?" Robin said, moving his arm to wrap around Raven's.

Raven placed her free hand on his arm and hugged it. "That would be…good."

They rejoined the others and were just in time to catch the other Titans, including Starfire, running back to the couch trying to pretend they've been there the whole time. Raven frowned. Robin patted her arm and urged her to the couch and they sat with the others.

"What are we watching now?" Robin asked. Bride," Cyborg said sheepishly.

Raven rolled her eyes as Robin fought to keep a straight face.

Throughout the rest of the night they watched horror movies after they finished watching their current movie, and as the night rolled on, Robin never let go of Raven's hand. When it came time for bed and when Beast Boy and Cyborg had eaten all the food, the Titans cleaned up their mess and voted on putting away the Halloween decorations later and go straight to bed. Starfire had walked up to Raven as she as heading to her room.

"Raven…may we talk before we sleep?" Starfire

"Sure…" Raven said, mentioning Starfire to follow her into her room.

The alien princess entered her room and Raven closed it and walked over to her.

"Starfire, I didn't mean to ruin…" Raven was stopped when Starfire embraced her with a hug.

"Do not believe that anything will ruin our friendship," Starfire whispered. "Not even what has happened tonight will make me think less of you." She parted some and held her at arms length, holding her hands. "You spoke what was in your heart, and you were going to give it up for my sake…That is what held our friendship, Raven. I…will need time to heal over my heartache for Robin, but it gladdens me that he is with someone better than I."

"Starfire, I'm not better than you! You've always been the shining princess in his eyes…" Raven said.

"But he doesn't want a princess, Raven," Starfire replied with a sad smile. "He grew up in a shadow that has protected him all his life; he can't leave it and I cannot pull him out of it, I was foolish to try it. Raven, what he really needs is you…the dark sorceress. Not all fairy tales are right; some have it backwards and some do have it right…"

"Starfire…" Raven held her hands tightly, feeling at a lost for words.

"I cannot change what he is, Raven. I cannot be with him without wishing him to be something that he know he isn't," Starfire said. "Maybe….I'll find my shining knight…someday. But for…for now, you must not let my feelings hold you from experiencing something you've longed for your whole life." Starfire let go of her hands and hugged her once more, and then parted from her with a warm smile, wiping the tear out of the corner of her eye. "Don't let what you and Robin might have, be my fault. I wish for all my friends to be happy; do what you want to do, Raven, and if being with Robin is what makes you the happiest, then I will be happy for you, too, always."

"Thank you, Star…" Raven said so weakly, her voice almost didn't form the words.

Starfire hugged her again and floated to her door and waved at her. "Goodnight, friend Raven, and Happy Halloween." She moved past the door and closed it.

Raven stood in the darkness of her room. Starfire's words rooted themselves into her heart and her mind was made up. She tugged the wedding veil and blue wig off her head and marched out of her room and straight to Robin's. She knocked on the door three times and Robin opened it. Her eyes did a double-take of him as he was half undress; she'd just caught him in a completely unbuttoned dress shirt, exposing toned abs and a very defined chest covered in a few scars he must have gotten from past battles. She was thankful that he was still wearing his pants, but the boots and everything else were gone.

Robin caught her wondering eyes and leaned against the doorway and flapped his opened dress shirt teasingly for her. "Like what you see?"

Raven tried to bring her eyes up to his. She didn't get past his collarbone; her eyes were glued on his chest!!

"I…uh, umm….heh, wanted to talk to you about abs! I mean us!!!" Raven hastily said, blushing as her words were betraying her thoughts.

Robin frowned and crossed his arms, breaking her view of his bare front. The blockage was welcomed as it let her process her thoughts clearly again.

"What about us…?" Robin asked with a hesitant tone.

"I don't want to start this slowly," Raven said, meeting his eyes. "If…we're both serious than we shouldn't be going about this like we're walking on eggshells. I know I sound selfish here and rushing things, but I want to do this the proper way."

"People have their own idea of what's the proper way, Raven," Robin said. "What would be the proper way for you, I'm willing go do anything it is if it's what you want."

Raven frowned at him. "You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?"

Robin smirked and shrugged. "That's what men do; we're too simple at times and will go with anything."

Raven groaned at him and slapped his arm lightly. "If you keep acting like that, then I'll be the one that dumps your ass next Halloween."

Robin laughed and pushed himself off the doorway and stood with his arms still crossed. The flapping front of his shirt drew Raven's attention back to this abs and her eyes were locked there. She thought about all the times that Starfire got to paw at his body…much of if did she get to see?

"….Raven? Did you hear what I said?" Robin said, bending down to catch her eyes with his, making his abs tighten.

Raven bent her head with the abs, turning it to the side to watch the upper two abs clinch and flatten some against the abs under them. Robin waved a hand in her face to cut off her trance.

"Hello? Raven, did you hear anything I've been saying?" Robin said.

Raven jerked her head. "Huh? Uh…sorry, what did you say?"

Robin looked down and quickly discovered her source of distraction. He buttoned his shirt back up, hearing a soft protesting moan from Raven.

"Like I was saying, how about I take you out tonight anywhere you want to go? Doesn't matter where or how expensive it is, I'll take you there and pay for everything, does that sound good?" Robin said.

"Really?" Raven said with bewilderment. "…Anywhere?"

"Yup!" Robin nodded.

"Sounds like a date to me," Raven said. "That'll do…"

"Okay, but you have to do one thing for me first," Robin said.

Raven looked suspiciously at him. "And that would be?"

"I get to kiss you goodnight," Robin said, playing with a button on his shirt.

Raven watched his fingers as he kept undoing and redoing that button, letting her get another glimpse of masculine flesh. Her blush grew deeper and deeper.

"What were you thinking I was going to ask, hmm?" Robin teased.

Raven grunted at him and looked away reluctantly. "Nothing you are probably thinking, perv…."

"Is that so?" Robin snickered. He opened his shirt halfway and reached out and pulled Raven close to him, then glided her hand up and placed it on his bare chest.

Raven instantly felt the rush of warmth in her hand, his skin was hot! She chalked it up to his costume as he looked a bit sweaty during the party, but the look in his eyes made her think otherwise. She tried to look away in embarrassment but her head wouldn't look away from his face. She then felt a pair of warm, eager lips press against her own eager lips and her embarrassment, her nervousness, everything else was forgotten. She melted into the kiss, sighing silently in it and let her fingers curl over his chest and feel the hard muscle underneath the skin. It wasn't anything like she ever felt as she used to make a point to have as little bodily contact with anyone. Now she wondered why she didn't give it a try a long time ago.

Robin tugged on her waist some more, pressing her body tightly against his and caressing her soft hand that pawing lightly at his chest. It amused him some how timid she was and her body still seemed unsure what to do in the moment. There was no real noticeable hesitation on her part; it was more of lack of experience as she couldn't quite make up her mind if she should go further with the kiss, or move her hand like she's seen Starfire do with her hand over his chest, or stop before things got too serious for her. She couldn't make up her mind which was a better alternative.

Thankfully, Robin made the decision for her. He gently pulled back from her lips and rubbed the back of her palm with his thumb tenderly and smiled as he watched her face slowly come out of the daze she was in.

"How can a kiss cause so much to happen?" Raven wondered out loud.

"They just do, that's why people treasure them so," Robin answered for her, brushing a few locks of her hair behind her ear.

Her eyes fluttered for a moment, then she got a grip of herself and pushed away from him gently. "If I don't go I won't get any sleep and have time for our date…"

Robin agreed. He wasn't sure what he might do if she didn't go now. "That sounds good…It's been a long night."

"Hasn't it?" Raven mused, stroking his hand with her thumb once and then letting go and almost prancing back to her room. Before she exited into her room, she turned back to him, and added, "Happy Halloween, Robin…"

"Happy Halloween, Raven," Robin replied with a small wave.

She smiled and looked away and slowly closed her door. She went into her private bathroom and removed the rest of her costume and washed all the remaining make-up off her body and threw on a pair of navy blue pajamas and hopped on her bed, curling up against her soft pillow and humming to herself as she replayed her kiss over and over in her mind as sleep tugged at her and drifted her off into dreamland with a warm smile playing across her face.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I can write a fanfic without any lemons or limes. Sorry if any of you that expected that out of me didn't get that in this. I was thinking on one, but then that would be rushing things like in 'Spin the Bottle'. I know I rushed that some, but hey, you guys all liked it so it wasn't a flop. Hope this will make everyone's holiday, I know I had fun writing it, and I hope to see lots of reviews!! XD!!

Before anyone asks why Raven is so emotional, take into account that this is the result of dealing with her feelings for Robin for six months after Robin and Starfire started going out, plus the time before then during "Birthmark". And since she defeated her father, her emotions don't cause her powers to go havoc so badly.

Anywho, I might do a continuation to this if anyone wants to see Robin and Raven's date, and if anyone wants to see more happen, just leave a review with your request and I'll read it and do my best to make it appear on here.

As for reviews, I welcome any and all, that includes the flamers I know I'll receive from Robin/Starfire fans. I can use the fire to light up my Jack-O-Lanterns this Halloween!! Hah hah!! Just keep an open mind that this is a One-Shot and a story, don't take it so seriously…..except you Robin/Raven fans! WE GOTTA KEEP THE FAITH!!!

All kidding aside, everyone have a great and fantastic night! Happy Halloween, everyone!!

_'May the night bless you all'_

Darkmoon Knight


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